Although commonly used as a synonym for the Internet, the World Wide Web (WWW or simply the Web) is a hypertext media service that runs on the Internet. Separate from other Internet services such as email or FTP, the Web is the world of webpages, hyperlinks, search engines, and URL addresses. British computer scientist Sir Tim Berners-Lee, working at CERN in 1989, wrote a proposal defining the WWW and is credited as its inventor.

CERN: Birth of the Web “The web was originally conceived and developed to meet the demand for automatic information-sharing between scientists in universities and institutes around the world. The first website at CERN — and in the world — was dedicated to the World Wide Web project itself and was hosted on Berners-Lee’s NeXT computer.” Visit CERN’s history of the Web to view the very first website and click around on the interactive Birth of the WWW timeline.

Pew Research Internet Project: World Wide Web Timeline Did you know that the Web might have been called the “Mesh” or the “Mine”? “The World Wide Web begins as a CERN (European Organization for Nuclear Research) project called ENQUIRE, initiated by British scientist Tim Berners-Lee. Other names considered for the project include ‘The Information Mesh’ and ‘The Mine of Information.'” Don’t miss this terrific timeline that includes iconic events such as AOL’s “You’ve got mail!” greeting, and the birth of the term “surfing the Internet.”

Web Directions: Timeline of the History of the World Wide Web From 1910 (with the creation of The Mundaneum, an institution dedicated to gathering and classifying all the world’s knowledge) to the retiring of the French information system Minitel in 2012, this interactive timeline features highlights in the history of information science. Fast forward to 1990 to view the data point about the original web browser developed by Berners-Lee.

“The web is more a social creation than a technical one. I designed it for a social effect — to help people work together — and not as a technical toy.” ~~ Tim Berners-Lee ~~ (b. June 8, 1955) British computer scientist known for inventing the World Wide Web. Read more Time Berners-Lee quotes.